Apparatus for cleaning receptacles pneumatically



Sept. 9,A 1941.

E. M. FRANKEL APPARATUSl FOR CLEANING RECEPTACLES PNEUMATICALL'Y Filed Maron 22, 1939 4 Smeets-sheet 1 Y MUNN . v, SQ,

.NNY

Sept. 9, 1941. E. M. FRANKEL APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RECEPTACLES PNEUMATICALLY Filed Mroh 22, 1959 y 4 Sheetgj-Sheet 2 Zdzyard/wfze.

Sept. 9, 1941. E. M. FRANKl-:L 2,255,615

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RECEPTACLES PNEUMATICALLY Filed March 22, 1959 4 sheets-sheet 5 A A\\ @Y SePt- 9, l941- E. M. FRANKEI. 2,255,615

APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RECEP'I-ACLES PNEUMATICALLY Filed March 22; 1939 v 4 sheets-sheet 4 Patented Sept. 9, 1941 APPARATUS FOR CLEANING RECEPTCLES PN EUIVIATICALLY Edward -M. Frankel. Cedarhurst, Md., assignor to,

Cedarhurst Machinery Corporation, Baltimore, Md., a corporation of Maryland Application March 22, 1939, Serial No. 263,532

Claims.

This invention relates to a process and apparatus for cleaning receptacles pneumatically and has particular reference toa process and apparatus whereby bottles and the like are freed of dust and similar foreign matter preliminary to filling.

Both new and old bottles accumulate dust when permitted to stand for any length of time and, even when new, dust and lint from inside the carton get into the bottles before these empty receptacles are delivered to the bottling line. This dust settles on the interior walls because the bottles are not sealed or covered While awaiting use. Deposition of dust is of 'increased amount where the bottles are kept in atmospheres laden with extraordinary high contents of dust and other solid particles. Also, in the case of new bottles, small particles of foreign matter frequently accumulate during the process of manufacture.

Some oi the processes and machines now in use for removing the dust and other foreign matterfrom the lbottles and other receptacles employ compressed air. In some instances the bottles are evacuated and thisvacuum is employed to draw air into and through the bottles.

Among the objects of this invention is to provide a process and apparatus designed to overcome disadvantages incident to prior processes and apparatus, and to accomplish these results readily, efciently and inexpensively.

A further object of this invention is to provide an apparatus for conveying bottles and similar receptacles through the automatic process of pneumatically cleaning the bottles.

A further object of this invention is to provide a process and apparatus which may also be operated as part of a single unit for both cleaning the bottles or other receptacles and then illllng the same.

Other, further and more specific objects of this invention will become readily apparent to persons skilled in the art from a consideration of the following description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:`

Fig. 4 is a detail section along line 4 4" of Fig. 3, showing the suction port which communicates with an exhaust chamber and pressure ports which communicate with a compressed air chamber.

Fig. 5 is a detail section along line ii`5l of Fig. .3, showing the suction portsv which cornmunicate with conduits opening into the bottles when undergoing pneumatic cleaning and the pressure ports which communicate with the nozzles disposed to inject air into the bottles undergoing pneumatic cleaning. y

Fig. 6 is a detail section through the carrier valong line 6--6 of Fig. 2, showing the relative positions of the bottles conveyed to and from the carrier during a stage of the transfer. In this view, the hub of the carrier is shown in elevation. f

Fig. 'I is a detail, perspective view, showing the vpositions of the guiding paddles of the rotating the rotating carrier is disposed in a given position relative to the paddle members of the carrier. Fig. 9 is a view similar to Fig. 8 and showing the bottle about to be transferred from the incoming conveyor to the rotating carrier disposed..

in a position other than that of the bottle about to be transferred in Fig. 8.

The apparatus comprises the rotatable carrier, designated as a whole by the reference numeral 2, which is adapted to revolve within the housing 4. This housing is provided with the peripheral portion 6, the front end 8 and the rear portion IIJ. This front portion is preferably provided with removable parts, in order to give access to the interior of the housing.

The rotatable carrier has a hub I2, loosely mounted on the shaft I4, and a plurality of arms or paddles I6 projecting radially from the hub I2. These paddles are preferably' of wood and may be covered with felt, if desired. Air nozzles I8 also extend outwardly and radially from the hub I2. and are disposed between the Shanks or stems 20 of adjacent paddles. Each nozzle I8 is fastened into the hub I2 and communicates at its inner end with a conduit or duct 22 which terminates in the port opening 24 (see Fig. 3). An-

other conduit or duct 26 'through the hub I2 is provided adjacent to each of the ducts 22. Each duct 26has at one end the port opening 28 and extends to its corresponding bottle seat 36, which is also secured in the hub I2. I prefer to have each nozzle I8 project through this end of its conduit 26 and extend beyond its bottle seat 36.

A rear face-plate 32 bears against the hub I2 and is disposed so that the hub may rotate with respect to this face-plate. A conduit 34 connected to a compressed air chamber (not shown) branches into a plurality of individual conduits 36, 38 and 46, which extend into the face-plate 32 and terminate in the port openings 42, 44 and 46, respectively. A conduit 48 connected to" a vacuum chamber (not shown) also extends into the face-plate 32 and terminates in the arcuate port opening 56.

When the hub I 2 is revolved with respect to the face-plate 32, each of the pressure ports 24 on the hub I2 registers in turn with the pressure ports 42, 44 and 46 of the face-plate 32. Also during this revolution, each of the vacuum ports 28 registers successively with the long arcuate vacuum port 56 in the face-plate 32. Each ofthe ports 28 yare in continuous registry with the port 56 for a substantial portion of each cycle of revolution, and several of these ports 28 simultaneously reg ister with the port 56.

A clutch sleeve 52 is keyed to the shaft I4 and is provided with a friction facing 54. On the end andere l this shaft |I6 revolves it turns the roller III of the shaft I4 is fastened a spring-plate 56. .A

spring 58, coiled about the shaft I4, bears against the spring plate 56 and the front cover-plateV 66 of the hubv I2,l and serves to bring the hub I2 and rear face-plate 32 together with proper pressure to prevent leakage of air at their contacting faces. By means of the bolts 62 threadedly engagingthe bores 64 in the plate 66, the clutch sleeve 52 may bemoved to effect frictional engagement with the hub I2, so that the hub I2 will turn With the Sleeve 52 andshaft I4. This frictional pressure should be enough to revolve the hub I2 during ordinary operation, but not too great to prevent the shaft I4 land sleeve 52 from turning independent .of thev hub I2 when the carrier is prevented frorn turning by congestion of bottles. The inner ends of the bolts 62 bear against the disc 66 which has diametrically opposite notches 61 into which project the reduced ends 68 of the shouldered lugs 69 which are secured to the plate 66.

The paddles I6 are connected to the hub I2 by the shanks 26. These paddles are provided with the sloping forward end faces 16 and the sloping rearward end faces 12. The side faces 14 and 16 of the paddles are slightly sloped from the perpendicular to the axis of rotation of the carrier. The distance between the faces 16 and 12 of adjacent paddles is such as to permit the bottle or other receptacle to be cleaned to rest therein with a small amount of clearance.

Power is transmitted to the shaft I4 by means of the sprocket wheel 18, sprocket chain 86, sprocket wheel 82l shaft 84, worm Wheel 86 and worm 88 from the main drive shaft 86 supported in the bearings 9|. Power from this main drive shaft 96 is also transmitted to the sprocket wheel 92, sprocket chain 94, sprocket wheel 96 and shaft 98 to the ymutilated bevel gear |66. Duringa portion of its revolution;v this mutilated gear wheel engages and drives the bevel gear wheel |62. The bevel gear |62idrives the shaft |64 which transmits the power through the worm |68 to the worm wheel |68 and shaft II6. When which drives the wide belt conveyor I|2 serving as a loading table. The gear |I4 also rotates with the shaft 84 and operates the gear I|6 in engagement therewith, thereby driving the middle belt conveyor I |8, which is trained on the pulley |26 fastened to the shaft |22, which is also fastened to the gear ||6. The belt I|8 also drives the idler |24 upon the shaft |26.

The incoming belt conveyor |28 is driven by the pulley I 29, alsomounted on shaft |22 and adjacent to the pulley |26.

The belt I |2 moves. only when the section of teeth on the mutilated gear |06 meshes with the gear |62. The movement of these gears is regulated so that the belt ||2 will travel forward at the desiredintervals asuficient distance to transfer onto the continuously moving incoming belt I28 one row of the bottles |36 previously dumped onto the loading table or belt |I2. These bottles are carried forward by the belt |28 between the guide rails |32 and the casing 4 and are deflected, by the spring guide |34 onto the middle conveyor I8. When each bottle |36 has moved completely upon the middle conveyor I|8, it assumes a position between adjacent paddles |6 of the carrier and rides therein through a revolution of the carrier and is then discharged upon the conveyor |I8, which delivers it to the discharge conveyor |36, from which it passes onto a filling apparatus (not shown). 'y

There is provided a partition wall |38 diagonally across the top of the ,conveyor I I8. This lpartition |38 is nearly parallel to the spring guide |34 on the incoming side and the spring guide |46 on the outgoing side. By reference to Fig.

8, it will be seen that the bottle I 3|)a has been guided onto the middle carrier ||8 and between adjacent paddles I6. In this case, the bottle |36a is shown as delivered to the end of the chute formed by the spring guide |34 and diagonal `wall |38 just at the time it could conveniently enter between adjacent paddles I6 and be carried around by the carrier. The angularity of the faces 16 and 12 of the paddles serves to properly guide and assist in receiving and carrying the bottles forward by the carrier. It will be noted that the spring guide |84 is hinged at |4I and is held against the casing 4 by the rod |42 and its 'surrounding spring |43 resting between the stops |44 and |45. The spring guide |46 is hinged at |46 and is held against the casing 4 by means of the rod` |41 and its surrounding spring |48 resting between the stops |49 and |56.

If the bottle |36 reaches the end of the chute before the adjacent paddles I8 areoin position to properly receive the bottle, there will be a slight crowding of the bottles as Ashown in Fig. 9 and the spring guide |34 will temporarily yield and then, aided by the sloping face 14 of the paddle I6 immediately ahead of the bottle |303, will force the bottle |36n slightly backward and direct it between'the adjacent paddles which are then in proper position to receive it. 'Ihe spring guide |46 on the outgoing side serves merely as a guide forjthe bottles leaving the carrier. It is hinged in order to allow yielding movement in case of crowding of the bottles, which occurs very seldom.

As the bottles are carried around by the carrier, they begin to slide radially downward when the bottles reach the position of bottle |30b shown in Fig. 2, the nozzle I8 entering the neckof the bottle, and the mouth of the bottle resting against the corresponding seat 36, which is preferably of soft material, such as rubber, rubber composition,

etc. The bottles tend to remain in this position, relative to the .nozzle and seat, for nearly the entire upper half of Ithe path of movement of each bottle by the carrier during which time gastight communication is established'between the interiors of the bottles and the vacuum or lowpressure suction chamber.

When the bottle reaches a position near its uppermost point of travel in the carrier, it will beinverted and at this point the vacuum port opening 28 corresponding to the seat 30 on which this bottle rests will register with the end 15| of the arcuate port opening 50 and the bottle will be subjected to continuous suction until this port 28 passes the end |52 of the vacuum port 50. During this suction period, the bottle will be substantially inverted andv will be held against its seat by its inverted position and also the suction of the bottle. During the time when the suction l port 28 of this bottle is in registry with the vacuum port 50 in the face-plate 32, the pressure port 24 communicating with the nozzle I8 projecting into this b'ottle will successively register with the corresponding pressure ports 42, 44 and 46 in the face-plate 32. This will cause puffs of air to enter the bottle while it is under suction. By providing these air puffs at the time the bottle is under suction and inverted, I am able to obtain far greater efficiency of cleaning than is provided by other pneumatic cleaners.

In the preferred practice of my invention, each of the bottles undergoing cleaning is subjected, While in inverted position, to suction before, during and after each puff of air introduced into the bottle. In this way, the foreign matter-and especially the vexatious, light particles of lintare effectively removed. Where the bottles are to be lled with certain beverages, such as wines, liquors and cordials, thorough removal of the lint is important, because it is most desirable that there be no floating solids in these liquids.

My apparatus operates quietly, efficiently with low power consumption and with negligible breakage of bottles. By having the carrier of my device practically vertical-i. e. revolving about a substantially horizontal shaft-instead of using a horizontal carrier revolving about a vertical shaft, I am able to introduce the bottles with the bottoms down, clean the bottles in inverted position and discharge the bottles with the bottoms down. The automatic feed, involving the use of the wide belt feeding the bottles onto the narrow belt, effects a saving in operating expense as well as speeding up of the operation.

The apparatus is compact and requires less space than other devices of comparable capaci-ty and volume of receptacles handled. It is also simple to repair and uses to a large extent parts that are commonly found in stock in supply shops or shelves.

The present invention is not limited to the vspecific details set forth in the foregoing examples which should be construed as illustrative and not by way of limitation, and in view of the numerous modifications which may be effectedY therein without departing from the spirit and scope of this invention, it is desired that only such limitations be imposed as are indicated in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention: Y

l. In an apparatus for cleaning receptacles, facing structure having a suction port connected for communication with an exhaust chamber and a plurality of pressure ports connected for communication with a compressed air chamber, a

conveyor disposed to move relative to said suction port and said pressure port, a seat upon said conveyor vfor a receptacle adapted to register with an opening iny the receptacle, a conduit on said conveyor having one terminal adapted to register with said suction port during part of the movement of said conveyor and the other terminal of said conduit disposed at said seat, and another conduit on said conveyor having one terminal adapted to register successively with said pressure ports during said part of the movement of said conveyor and the other terminal of said latter conduit being in communication with a nozzle and disposed to inject air into a receptacle upon said seat when suction is applied to `the interior of said receptacle through said firstnamed conduit.

2. In an apparatus for cleaning bottles, facing structure having a suction port connected for communication with an exhaust chamber and a plurality of pressure ports connected for communication with a compressed air chamber, a -carrier disposed to rotate relative to saidsuc'tion port and said pressure ports, a plurality of seats upon said carrier for said bottles adapted to register with openings in said bottles, each of said seats having a conduit extending therefrom through said carrier and having its other terminal adapted to register with said'suctionport during part of the rotation of said carrier when the bottle is inverted upon said seat and a nozzle at each of said seats and disposed to inject air into a receptacle upon said seat when suction is applied to the interior of each ef said receptacles through said conduits and each of said nozzles being connected to a conduit extending therefrom through said carrier to a terminal port adapted to register successively with said pressure ports during said part of the rotation of said carrier when the bottle is inverted upon its seat and the terminal of the former conduit is in registry with said suction port.

3. In an apparatus for cleaning bottles, facing structure having an elongated, arcuate, suction port connected for communication with an exhaust chamber and a plurality of pressure ports connected for communication with a compressed air chamber, a carrier disposed to'rotate relative to said suction port and said pressure ports, a plurality of seats upon said carrier for said bottles adapted to register with openings in said bottles, each of said seats having a conduit extending therefrom through said carrier and having its other terminal adapted to register with said suction port during part of the rotation of said carrier when the bottle is invertedupon said seat and a nozzle at each of said seats and disposed to inject air into a bottle upon said seat when suction is applied to the interior of each of said bottles through said conduits and each of said nozzles being connected to a conduit extending therefrom through said carrier to a terminal port in substantial radial alinement with the terminal of the former conduit and adapted to register with said pressure port during said part of the rotation `of said carrier when the bottle is invertedi'upon its seat and the terminal of said former conduit is in registry with said suction port.

4. In an apparatus for pneumatically cleaning receptacles, a rotatable carrier, a member adjacent to'said carrier, said carrier being in close, facial contact with and rotatable with respect to lsaid member at their contacting faces, an elongated port in said member at the contacting face,

means for effecting communicationbetween said elongated port and a suction chamber, asmall port insaid member at the contacting .face and in the -vicinity ofv said elongated port, means for effecting'communication between said small port and asupply of compressed air, a small port lin said .carrier at the contacting Vface adapted Ito ceptacle onsaid carrier undergoing cleaningjan- 'othersmall .port in said carrier at the contacting f ace 'adapted'to registerwith said small port `in :said lmember during therotation of saidrcarrieryk a nozzle on said carrier for injecting air into said member 'for eiectng communicationbetween said elongated portand asuction chamber. a pluj rality of -small ports in vsaid vmember at the conreceptacle on said carrier and means for effecting communication between said small port in said member and said injector when ks uctionvis applied to the interior of Asaid receptacle through said first-named small "port insaid carrier.

' 5J rIn an vapparatus .for pneumatically cleaning receptacles, a'rotatable carrier, a member adjacent to said carrier, said carrier being in close, facial contact with and rotatable with'respect to said member at their .contacting `faces, an elongated arcuate port in said member at the contacting face, means comprising a conduit through said f tacting faceandinA the vicinityiof said elongated port, means .comprising a conduit vthrough vsaid member for-effecting communication betweensaid small portsand a supply of compressed air, a plurality of small ports :in said `carrier at vthe contacting face, at substantially equal radial dis tance from the axis of revolution of saidcarrier and adapted to register in turn vwith saidelongated' port yin rsaid member during the Vrotation of said carrier, meansor eiecting 'gas-tight communication-between saidports ronvsaid carrier and the interiors of receptacles on'said vcarrier undergoing cleaning, a plurality of other smallzports in said carrier :at the contacting face, at substantially equaljradial distance fromfthe axis of revolution of said carrier and adapted to register in turn with said small ports in said member during the rotation'of said carrier, `an air injecting Anoirzle on said carrier foreach receptacle on said carrier and means for effecting successive communicati'on between `said small ports .in said member and said injectors when suctionis applied to the interior of said receptacle through said first-named conduit. Y

EDWARD M. FRANKEL. 

